Rain
by Sydney47
Summary: Reliving Season 2's The Getaway. Some missing scenes have been added. Complete.
1. Rain

**A/N**: This fic is based on _The Getaway_. I may add more parts that relate to the other S/V scenes in that episode. Please review and let me know if you want more. Enjoy.

_Rain_

The rain pelted down on her windshield as she sped away from the warehouse. At that moment, she wished that she was out in the cleansing rain, so that it would wash away the anger and frustration that presently cloaked her after the argument that she had just left. She just needed to get away for a while and cool off. But she couldn't keep her thoughts from drifting back to the heated conversation that led to her driving furiously towards anywhere that could help her clear her head.

_It was just another routine check-in between handler and asset. Everything was going smoothly, information and instructions for the mission being exchanged as usual. It was only when he steered the conversation into personal matters that things turned ugly._

_Through with official business, Vaughn mentioned his support for her and her family. "Syd, you should know that we've been doing everything we can to help your father."_

"_**You've** been helping my father," she states in return. This was not exactly what he had expected._

"_Yeah," he said, not knowing where she was going with this._

"_You knew the Alliance was investigating my father," she continued._

"_Yes," he confirmed again, still lost._

"_For how long?" she asked suspiciously._

"_For two weeks." Her look of betrayal was all he needed to finally clue in. "Syd, I understand you're upset."_

"_Yeah, I am."_

_Suddenly on the defense, Vaughn tried to reason with her. "Your father explained why we hadn't told you."_

_This only served to further set her off. She shook her head and blinked rapidly in frustration. "Now that I've had time to think about that—"_

_Still armed only with reason, Vaughn whipped out gun number two. "It was a question of your safety."_

_Strike two, Rational Man._

"_He as almost killed! I saved him!" she exclaimed indignantly._

"_It hadn't gotten to that—" he defended._

"_Yeah, but it did!"_

_Still in a deep hole, he turned to a more personal response. "I didn't want you to have more on your mind."_

_She was getting sick of being treated like she couldn't take care of herself. "Why are you worring about what's on my mind?"_

_Now he was starting to get angry at her ingratitude. "It was a judgement call."_

_Still annoyed, she answered, "Yeah, it was a judgement call that you've been making for the past three months."_

_He persisted in his new line of defense. "Involving you had no upside."_

_And off she went again. "There's no upside to keeping me informed? You didn't tell me about Monolo, or that you had discussions with **my** mother. You didn't even tell me you were seeing Alice again!" She was probably as shocked as he was about that little slip. But she regrouped in time._

"_Wait, what is this about?"_

"_This is about me being too old to be coddled."_

_Feeling unappreciated, he went with, "Your life is complicated, Sydney. Forgive me for trying to make it any easier."_

_Strike three._

_She was still seething. "I don't need you for that."_

_There was nothing to say after that. It couldn't be any clearer that she didn't want his help – not in the fashion that he wanted to give it, anyway._

_She left him abruptly in thick silence._

She made it quickly to her destination. She exited her car, glad to finally feel the healing coolness of the rain as the crashing sound of the ocean and the fresh smell of the air hit her senses. She walked along the pier for several minutes waiting for the lingering anger to leave her. She stopped and gripped the cold metal railing and took a calming deep breath as she gazed out over the ocean. It was a rather bleak afternoon, both the sky and the ocean gray from the heavy clouds. The setting seemed to match her mood rather well, she thought.

She thought back to the argument once again. She admitted to herself that he was only acting in what he thought was her best interest, but that certainly didn't give him the right to not inform her of anything. She knew that he wanted to protect her, but she thought he respected her enough to handle her own issues herself. She sighed. This wasn't helping. The rain started to fall harder, and she shivered as the breeze picked up. Just as she decided to return to her car, her pager went off.

It was Vaughn.

'Here we go again,' she thought.

_TBC?_


	2. Work and Pleasure

**A/N**: You're in luck. It's a 2 for 1 day. Here's the next part. Enjoy.

_Work and Pleasure_

On her way back to the Ops Center, Sydney tried to stay calm. She knew that Vaughn was calling her in simply to giver her more information about her counter-mission, but she couldn't help but loathe being back in his presence so soon after their fight. She still felt insulted by him, and she definitely was not ready to forgive him yet, so she knew that whatever conversation they would have to engage in would be tense, even spiteful.

Upon entering the office, she marched straight to Vaughn's desk, knowing he would be there waiting for her. However, she kept her eyes focused on the ground as she approached him, not wanting to meet his gaze. She even kept that action up during their conversation, focusing her line of sight on anything but him.

Not wanting to waste time, or breath over an apology that he frankly felt he wasn't responsible for and which he didn't think she would accept anyway, he started feeding her the necessary information as soon as she arrived at his desk.

"Once you recover the gyroscope, you and Dixon will separate for your flights home." Pointing to the blueprint on his desk, he continued, "Our team will be set up in this utility room where they will duplicate the gyroscope." He looked at Sydney for a response. Receiving none, and suspecting from her posture that she wasn't even paying attention to him, he asked a mite angrily, "Any questions?"

Finally meeting his gaze, but only for an instant as she next turned her attention to the blueprint and answered him subtly sarcastically, "Maybe you should go over it again. That's a pretty complicated plan. Maybe you could make it easier." She looked at him poignantly, hoping he would feel the sting behind her seemingly innocent words.

He nodded knowingly, understanding all too well what she meant. Having had too much of her attitude he decided to bring and end to their caustic banter.

His voice was low in frustration, "Ok, look. I don't want to be here any more than you do—"

Thankful, he was spared from having to say more, and perhaps only be successful in starting another fight, as Weiss joined them merrily, oblivious to their tiff.

After a warm greeting with Sydney, he immediately turned to business – one that Sydney and Vaughn had had just about enough of.

"Alright, bring me up to speed. What's our plan?"

Vaughn and Sydney could only look away, not knowing what else to say that the other would not take offense to.

Luckily for Sydney, she had an out.

She rushed away saying, "I should get to my plane."

Not even looking at her, Vaughn said in monotone, "I'll see you in France," their exchange leaving Weiss utterly confused.

_Later, in Nice…_

Having the gyroscope in her possession, Sydney strode quickly into the utility room. Upon entering, her eyes were drawn to Vaughn's in a kind of truce now that the hard part of the job was over. She made her way over to him as he finished up his telephone call.

He deadpanned, "They're estimating two hours until the gyroscope is ready." He paused, not really expecting a response, and caught the glance from Weiss, as Vaughn prepared himself from what he would say next.

He swallowed and looked down a few times, mustering up the courage to actually go through with it. "Listen, do you want to go to dinner?"

That simple question finally brought Sydney's eyes to his. "When we were driving in town, I saw this place – Rousseau, I think it's called."

It took her a moment to come up with a reply, and even then, she spoke unsurely. "Vaughn… We… we can't do that." Smiling a little, she looked at him in slight disbelief of his suggestion.

"Why not," he persisted.

She kept her gaze on him, looking at him as if he were crazy. "Well," she answered, "for a million reasons. If Alliance security sees us together, they'll – kill us."

Back to his favorite argument weapon – reason – he countered her, "The nearest Alliance cell is in Zurich. The CIA tracks SD-6 security section. There haven't been any signals, no movement…"

Still in disbelief, she asked, "You're serious?"

He was on a roll now, and reason actually seemed to be working this time. "We've been to restaurants and sat near each other. We've met in parks and convenient stores, and all of them in L.A. where we are much more likely to be seen. Look, two things: one, I think it's not that great a risk, and two, I'm hungry. I'm starving. I mean, we're going to be together anyway; why can't we be eating. Aren't you hungry?"

She smiled at his logic. "Yeah, I'm hungry."

She took a few moments to respond to him, but her answer was inevitable. She had the chance to go on a date with Vaughn; there was no way in hell that SD-6 was going to stand in her way any longer.

"Let's do it."

"Yeah?" he smiled.

She nodded in happy agreement, purple hair, nose ring, and all. "I'm going to change."

He laughed. "Yeah, that's a good idea."

"Okay," she said, smile still plastered on her face, as she picked up her backpack and left Vaughn to celebrate with Weiss.

_TBC_


	3. Just Dinner

**A/N**: Voila! Here's the second to last part. I'm on a writing roll, so you can probably expect the last part sometime this weekend. Enjoy. -)

_Just Dinner_

During the drive to the restaurant, nearly all that permeated the atmosphere was a slightly awkward silence. Every so often, Sydney would turn her gaze to Vaughn and quietly study him. Her eyes were drawn to his strong jaw line and dark stubble protruding from his otherwise smooth skin. Later, her attention was drawn to his eyes, willing them to turn towards hers so that she could gaze into them and know exactly what his expectations were for this dinner. But, he mostly kept his eyes on the road… at least until he could sense her eyes upon him. He turned to see her looking at him inquisitively, and he smiled.

"What?" he asked innocently as he turned his eyes back to the road.

There was a long pause as Sydney contemplated her answer, but all she ended up saying was, "Nothing," as she shook her head.

"Syd, you can tell me anything." She was glad that his attention was focused on driving because she knew that if he looked at her right then, his eyes would pierce through her discovering for himself the thought that she wanted to analyze by herself for a little longer. But she knew that she had to say something.

"Vaughn, I… I'm not so sure we should be doing this."

"Syd, trust me on this. We're not in danger of being found out. SD-6 will never know—"

"That's not what I mean," she interrupted.

"Then what is it?" He pulled up to a red light and turned his full attention to her.

"It's just that…" She took a deep breath and decided it was time to just get it out. "Alice is important to you. I know you care about her, so I'm not sure about what our going out like this says in relation to your relationship with her, and I don't know what you're expecting from me in this situation." She kept a steady gaze on him, not willing to let her embarrassment show through.

Vaughn sighed and nodded, cursing himself for not bringing this subject up earlier. "We're just going to dinner, Sydney. I'm not expecting anything more than that. As for my feelings about Alice," he paused momentarily, "I don't love her."

A horn sounding behind them told Vaughn it was time to go. He turned away from her, but he reached out his hand to find hers and gripped it gently. Sydney looked down at their joined hands and smiled.

* * *

As they were seated at their table, Sydney felt a surge of nervous excitement flow through her. She knew that Vaughn said that this was just going to be a normal dinner, but she couldn't help but wonder if he was feeling like she was.

Sitting down to another awkward silence, Sydney quickly opened the menu, and Vaughn followed suit. Sydney perused the menu, but her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of the man across from her. She couldn't keep her eyes from drifting up to look at him, and she found that Vaughn, too, was having problems focusing on his menu.

Their eyes met. They both stifled a smile as they looked back at their menus. It didn't take long for their thoughts to wander back to each other, as they both glanced up again.

Vaughn started to say something, but stopped himself. His pause caused Sydney to finally speak up.

Closing the menu, she was relieved to finally have thought of an icebreaker. "I think wine would help the situation."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Vaughn affirmed and called the waiter over.

They were both feeling much more relaxed once they had wine and food at their disposal, which led them to discussions about code names, pets, and pool.

Suddenly, the host appeared at their table and offered them a key to a room upstairs. They both looked at each other, stricken speechless.

Vaughn looked at the key as if it would give him an answer to the questions running through his mind, and then he looked at Sydney. "Did you ask him to do that?" he asked her, accusingly but lightly.

She only smiled in response, embarrassedly touching her neck. "There are so many issues with this, I don't know where to begin."

"Now hold on a second," he stopped her. "I think we should have an open mind about this," he said seriously.

"An open mind," she echoed.

(Oh reason! Where art thou? Well… right here. That's right, Vaughn turned to his best friend once more.) "It would be rude to overlook such a generous offer without proper consideration."

"I wouldn't dream of it," she answered softly.

"Okay," he responded excitedly, figuring that he had won.

But she persisted. "But there are clearly issues."

"Yes," he conceded. "I don't disagree." He waited expectantly for her answer.

At that moment, it seemed like they were the only two people in the restaurant, the only people in the city, for that matter, as time seemed to stand still, while erasing the slightest thought of a dispute in a warehouse or the name of some woman that Vaughn had been involved with. It was only the two of them, waiting for the answer that would set them both free.

"Okay."

But their moment was shattered.

_TBC_


	4. The Double Escape

**A/N**: There may be an epilogue after this, but I'm not sure. So, please review and let me know if you want one. Enjoy._  
_

_The Double Escape_

"Syd, behind you!" Vaughn exclaimed upon spotting two agents bearing guns coming into the restaurant towards them.

Sydney and Vaughn escaped through the back, running down a flight of stairs in to an alley. They started making their way to the front of the building to where their car was, but they were cut off by a car heading straight towards them.

They turned back the other way, and were soon stopped by an agent from the restaurant shooting at their feet. They raised their arms in surrender.

"Gun – toss it over," the agent said to Vaughn.

Vaughn threw it to him, and he kicked away.

"On your knees, hands behind your head!" the other agent shouted at them. "Get down!"

One of the agents was in the process of contacting Kane, while the other secured Sydney's hands behind her back.

As the agent moved to tie Vaughn's hands, Vaughn whipped out his knife that was strapped to his ankle and sliced the agent's neck. Using his body as a shield, he fired the gun at the other agent who went down.

Vaughn retrieved his knife and cut Sydney's bonds. They both heard Kane on the phone wondering why no one was answering her. Sydney ended the call as Vaughn checked the agent's pulse. He was dead.

A siren wailed in the distance.

"We need to get out of here," Vaughn said. "Come on."

They both ran to their car out front and were immediately on their way. The only thing that permeated the silence in the car was the heavy breathing of both Sydney and Vaughn, not just from their sprint to the car, but from escaping certain death again.

Sydney glanced over to Vaughn. His brow was furrowed in worriment, and he gripped the steering wheel like a vice.

"We were so stupid," Sydney whispered.

"It's all my fault," Vaughn growled.

Sydney shook her head. "That's not true."

"I invited you to dinner. I brought you with me."

"Yes. And I accepted your offer. I came willingly. Don't try to steal all of the blame for this," she chided him."

"I should have prepared for this more. We should have been tracking those agents. We should have brought back up…" Vaughn berated himself.

"Vaughn, stop beating yourself up. Yes, we made a mistake, but we've fixed it."

"Not entirely," Vaughn answered. "We have to abort the counter-mission."

"What! Why?"

"Two of Kane's agents are dead. SD-6 is going to investigate. Now, they can't prove anything, but this is the one time we can't deceive them."

"Vaughn, there have to be other options," she said desperately.

"We have to give SD-6 what they want. As dangerous as that is, you know that."

Sydney looked down at her hands in her lap. "I can't believe this. SD-6 wins because we had to break protocol again. We never should have gone to dinner," she frowned as she shook her head.

"I wouldn't say that, Syd. I rather enjoyed our meal," he said with a small smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"I did too – that is, until those two goons appeared and destroyed everything."

"I know. I would have really enjoyed our night together in that cozy inn."

"Yeah, you were practically jumping on me to say yes," she teased him.

"Hey, you knew you wanted to say yes. I was only trying to encourage you," he answered innocently.

"Sure, whatever," she said, rolling her eyes. She paused for a moment. "Vaughn… Thank you for tonight." She placed her hand over his, bringing his eyes to hers.

"It was my pleasure," he smiled.

They made it to the airport, and Vaughn dropped Sydney off before he drove off again to circle around so that they wouldn't be seen entering the airport together.

The next day, they met in the warehouse. Sydney had been pacing anxiously hoping that Vaughn hadn't done anything to affect their partnership before she was able to give him the news that she had.

"Hey," Vaughn said as he entered the dark room.

"Hey. What did Kendall say?" she asked nervously.

"He told me about you father. He didn't mention anything about our… date, if that's what you mean."

"Have you written your mission debrief?"

"No. Not yet." He paused. "If I tell the truth, at the least they'll remove me as your case officer. But despite what we did, how stupid we were, I know we do good work. We need to stay together," he nodded to emphasize his words.

Sydney smiled. "I agree. We do good work." She pulled out the gyroscope and handed it to Vaughn.

He looked at her confused. "I don't understand."

"When I got back to SD-6 and saw my father," Sydney began, "it was clear that no one would be asking questions about Kane's missing agents. So, I gave Sloane the counterfeit gyroscope."

Vaughn's face registered astonishment.

"This is the real one," she finished. "We win."

Vaughn looked at her in amazement and smiled. "At the airport you took them both."

"Always be prepared," she responded.

He laughed lightly. "I've been thinking, Syd. We never did take up the restaurant host's offer. We should go back sometime." Seeing that she was about to protest, Vaughn continued, "Not now. I mean once we've destroyed Alliance. Now, you can't pass that up can you?"

Sydney smiled and blushed a little. "All right. It's a date."


	5. Epilogue

**A/N**: Here's the final part. Thank you for reading and reviewing. Enjoy._  
_

_Epilogue_

The idea of going back to the restaurant in Nice – it was a nice promise… and one that was not broken. Amazingly, they had not so long to wait to realize it either. They were able to obtain the necessary information to attack the Alliance where it hurt the most, to deliver the agonizing, killing blow. They were victorious. Everything that had been barring them from each other was gone. And they were immediate in celebrating this freedom.

Peering through the smoke and rubble, almost in a daze that the hellish place was destroyed, she searched for _him_. He pulled off his mask, also searching for her. Their eyes locked. The months of built-up tension were released in a spectacular explosion of emotion. Relief, gratitude, pride, and most of all, love flooded through the both of them, each drawn together like a magnet. They approached each other with only one thought on their minds – _we made it through everything_.

The kiss was everything each had dreamed of. It was passionate, but not clawing, raw, but not bruising; breathless, and endless. They each seemed to lose track of themselves in the other, not caring as long as they had the other. Though their eyes were closed, they saw nothing but bright color, dreaming of what would come next for them. Intimate dinner dates, walks along the beach, an infinite number of kisses like this one, passionate love-making; the list was endless. They dreamt of the future, but they were tied to the present by their kiss. They felt content to simply dream for now, not wanting to let this moment pass.

Eventually, they came up for air. They pulled back only far enough so they could look in each other's eyes. Vaughn traced his hand down Sydney's cheek.

"Are you all right?" he asked, still slightly breathless.

"I'm fine. You?"

"Couldn't be better." They both smiled.

"I can't believe we did it." She looked around in wonderment.

He nodded. "Want to get out of here? We have a date to make, after all."

"We have a debrief, Vaughn. Kendall will have our asses if we're not there."

"He'll get over it." He looked at her expectantly.

After a pause, she said, smiling, "Okay. Let's do it."

And just like that, they shed their identities as solely handler and asset (titles that were tenuous at defining them at best), and stepped into a new chapter of their lives. Arms wrapped around each other's waists, they strode happily out into a new world. Together.

* * *

They boarded the ordinary plane like any normal couple, but they were nearly giddy with excitement. They were finally getting some time away just for themselves, not traveling around the clock for someone else's agenda. They were free, and were completely enjoying the feel of it. They held hands the entire flight and couldn't keep from glancing at each other and smiling. They were so connected, so in tune with each other, that words were hardly needed. Eventually, they cuddled together, and closed their eyes, giving way to dreams of what would come.

* * *

They arrived at the Nice-Côte d'Azur Airport early in the morning, so they decided to rent a car and explore the coast a little. The sun was just rising forming a subtle glow along the horizon, making its appearance through the forming clouds.

They had been driving for about twenty minutes when suddenly, Sydney tugged on Vaughn's arm and said, "Pull over right here."

He didn't question her. He could see what she wanted to do. He pulled into a small area on the side of the road that was a designated viewpoint.

Sydney immediately stepped out of the car and went to the edge of the viewpoint overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. She took a deep breath of the fresh morning air and closed her eyes. She couldn't believe that she was finally away from it all. And with her was the only person she could have wanted in her life. After a few moments of ruminating over her sudden streak of luck, she felt Vaughn come up behind her and wrap his arms around her, putting his chin on her shoulder. She turned her head to face him and opened her eyes.

"Good morning," she said softly.

"Good morning," he smiled. "What were you thinking about?"

"You. Being here with you. That's all I ever want to think about."

"Me too."

They stood in silence for a few moments, just peacefully enjoying the breathtaking view, until they felt some rain drops fall.

"Come on, Syd. It's starting to rain."

"Wait, Vaughn." She pulled his arm as he started to walk back to the car. "I like the rain."

He couldn't deny her anything, not after everything they had been through, and he doubted that that would ever change. "All right," he said, "but I don't know what's so great about being cold and wet."

"It's not that cold yet. You'll like it, I promise."

He walked back to her and wrapped her in a hug. "I definitely like this," he said, and leaned down to bring his lips to hers. She met him eagerly, forgetting the fact that they were standing in the rain next to a highway in the early morning in France. She could only think of him.

Neither of them pulled back until they were thoroughly soaked. "I told you that you would like this," she teased him.

"Yeah. I guess you know me better than I do." He looked into her eyes and saw something he hadn't seen before. It could have been there all along, but clouded over by other emotions, but he definitely saw it now. It was the same thing he was sure she was seeing in his eyes. It was love. And at that moment, he knew he could do nothing but defy reason that was telling him they were moving to fast, and just say it.

"I love you, Sydney."

She didn't seem surprised by his declaration, rather almost expecting it at that moment.

"I love you too, Vaughn."

They smiled into each other as they kissed again.

* * *

They sat down to another quiet, romantic dinner that night, although they were eyed warily by the host this time. There was none of the awkward silence that had been there before, although, they still ended up glancing up at each other frequently while trying to read the menus.

Neither could stop smiling throughout the whole meal. They conversed on books, movies, Vaughn's mother, and childhood stories. When the host brought the check, Vaughn said, "We'd like a room upstairs, please."

"Of course, Monsieur. But I'm afraid that you'll have to pay this time. After what happened the last time you were here, I…"

"I understand," Vaughn answered. "But don't worry. That won't happen again."

"Thank you, Monsieur. Madame," he nodded to both and went to retrieve the key.

Neither Vaughn nor Sydney had to say anything. They both knew they were ready to take this unforgettable step and not have any regrets. This had been a long time in coming, and they weren't going to waste any more time in wondering whether this was a good idea. And anyway, there was no need; this was a great, no, a spectacular idea.

The host brought the key. Sydney and Vaughn walked hand in hand up the stairs to the room.

And they made love throughout the night.


End file.
